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Don't you just love it when family history artifacts pop up in family photos? This is exactly what happened for genealogist Dorothy Jackson Reed.

In 2007, she became the owner of a Book of Worship with the name Mary K. Fricke embossed in gold on the cover. According to the title page, this book was published by the Lutheran Publication Society in Philadelphia. It has a copyright of 1870, but a section of the book was revised in 1888.

Four years later, Dorothy's sister Miriam gave her a photograph of Mary K. Fricke taken by the London Studios in Baltimore. In the picture, Mary appears to be holding the Book of Worship.

Mary was born in 1878 and lived until 1953. Fashion clues date this image to the mid-1890s:

The style of the wicker chair. Most photo studios featured wicker furniture at the end of the century.

Her large puffy dress sleeves. In the 1890s, women's sleeves are quite distinctive.

The color of the cardstock. White was a popular color in that decade.

If this picture was taken circa 1895, Mary would've been 17. She's dressed like a girl with long braids and a skirt above the ankles.

Could this be a confirmation photo? It's quite possible since personalized Bibles were usually given to commemorate religious events.

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Congratulations to Michael Hanrahan, who sent in the winning image and will receive a copy of the book!

You'll have to wait for the book for the full story of his photograph, but I thought you'd like to see the picture:

And a closer look:

It's a really fun picture of a group of women at a party. Here's what Mike says about it: "These ladies include my great-grandmother, grandmother, and numerous great-aunts. I'm thinking the picture was taken around 1910 in Elmira, NY."

Have you ever been to a family reunion? I'm writing this from my husband's reunion. It's an every-other-year event that's been held since the mid-20th century. There's a lot of debate about when the first one was held.

Here are two observations:

The coordinator is an energetic cousin who plans activities and dinners. She's also become involved with creating a family website. What's interesting is that she doesn't consider herself a genealogist. I disagree: iPad in hand, she's busy interviewing family members about past generations to put the information online. Yup ... you guessed it, she's collecting photos, too. The site isn't live yet, but based on her enthusiasm, it will be soon. Can't wait to see what she's created!

Family history is everywhere. Whether it's a wedding that happened two weeks ago or figuring out when everyone first got together, there's a lot of history being collected. It's also being made everyday. Another cousin chronicles each reunion. She creates an album for every event with the photographs sent to her afterward. Each album is a time capsule.

If you've been to a reunion (or are planning one) can you comment below and share with readers ideas for photo-related activities to incorporate? We take a family photo at each reunion and snap lots of pictures. What have you done at your reunion?

Reunions magazine has a great website. Click any tab and you'll find suggestions for planning a reunion, activities for young and old, and details on sharing the pictures later. The resort where our event is held has a Pinterest site so guests can share photos they've posted. Reunionsmagazine also has a Pinterest page with dozens of boards. There are family history related t-shirt ideas, invitations, illustrated family trees and more.

I'm off to fill biodegradable water balloons for the traditional water balloon fight. Back next week with a family history photo mystery!

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With the world's focus on the Olympics, it's time to think about the athletes in your family. There's a family story related to my husband's grandfather: It's said
he was asked to play baseball with the Boston Red Sox, but his
father forbade it. His father had other plans for the boy.

The first London Olympics was held in 1908. You can view the athletes in black and white photos on the Library of Congress website; use "1908 Olympics" as a search term.

On Sept. 5, 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt hosted members of the US Olympic team at his Sagamore Hill home in Oyster Bay, Long Island. On his left is sportswriter P.J. Conway and on his right is James Sullivan, secretary of the 1908 Olympic Committee. This is just one of the images available at the Library of Congress.

It was supposed to be held in Rome, but when Mount Vesuvius erupted, plans were changed to London. City officials completed the "White City" for the games in under two years.

1,971 men competed versus 37 women

The opening ceremony was held April 27 and the games didn't close until October 31.

The current length of the marathon was set at these games. Supposedly the race began under the windows of the royal nursery and ended in front of King Edward VII.

There were political overtones at this event too. American shotputter and flag carrier Ralph Rose refused to dip the American flag in front of the King. Officials didn't display the Swedish flag, so those team members refused to participate. You'll find more information on Wikipedia and on the HistoryToday website.

And if your genealogy research includes ancestors who played sports on a school, hobby, amateur or professional team, see our October 2006 Family Tree Magazine guide to researching athletes in your family tree.

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I've been packing boxes for weeks getting ready to move houses. So how did our ancestors move their belongings in the past? They employed wagons and later, vans similar to the ones companies use today.

Sharon Pike sent in this picture of her father-in-law's Greyhound Van Lines Truck that he drove. It was taken in the 1940s. When he was on the road, Gene sent his wife Marion postcards nearly every day.

Check out my Moving Day board on Pinterest. If you haven't used this site yet, it's like an online scrapbook of images found on the web. You can organize your Pinterest images in "boards" and see what others have "pinned" on their boards. When you scroll over one of the images you can post a comment. Can't wait to see what you have to say!

Enjoy!

Solve your family photo mysteries with these books by Maureen A. Taylor:

his great-grandfather's wife's brother enlisted in the Civil War in an artillery unit for two tours.

The problem with this photo is that Empting isn't sure which man is depicted. Adding to the confusion are details on the photographer. According to the Minnesota Historical Society, J.J. Fritz aka the Fritz Studio operated in Saint Cloud from 1892 to 1909. Those work dates don't align with either war.

The style of this cabinet card suggests the 1890s. At some point during that decade, someone likely had an earlier photograph copied. This was a common practice when multiple family members wanted a copy of a photo. The original photo was a carte de visite, a small card photograph popular during the Civil War.

In the 1860s, the standard studio pose often included a pedestal on which the subject could lean.

Since there weren't standard military uniforms during the Civil War, the details in this man's attire may help identify him.

Mike's not sure this man is an Empting. The woman who gave Mike the images is deceased, but at the time of the gift, she didn't know the name of the soldier.

National Public Radio recently broadcast a program about identifying a Civil War picture. You can listen to it here. There's a bit of controversy about whether or not the photo in that story was reversed. It's possible. Reversal lens were available to correct the mirror image inherent in photo technology of the day, but not all photographers used them.

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The thresher is on the far left of this line of men and machines. Her ancestor Will Pike is the man standing up.

Thank you to everyone who commented and posted!

Here's a call for images. I'm moving from the Boston area back to my native state of Rhode Island. It made me wonder if any of you have photographs of your ancestors moving houses. You can email them to me. I'd love to see them.

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Sharon Pike sent in another picture of threshing wheat. It's of her family in South Dakota.

Being from the East Coast, I'm not used to seeing such a vast expanse of land. It's so beautiful. The large haystack at the horizon draws your eye from the workers in the foreground to where the sky meets the field.

On the back of Sharon's photo is a note that states that Will Pike is in back of the "header." She's not sure which part of the machinery is the header. Can someone help out and comment below?

Will's full name was James William Pike (1887-1931), son of James S. Pike and his wife Hattie Weed. Will traveled around with a crew that harvested wheat. He lived in Brookings, SD, and later settled in Wisconsin.

Happy Fourth of July this week! I've created a couple of short films on my Vimeo channel to honor the occasion: One is a colorized engraving depicting a veteran in uniform and the other showcases flags in photographs. I hope you enjoy them!

Solve your family photo mysteries with these books by Maureen A. Taylor:

A big thank you to everyone that submitted photos to our contest. The deadline has now passed and I'm gradually working my way through all the images to pick the winning image. The winner will receive a copy of my book, The Family Photo Detective, and the image may even be featured inside. Watch this space for news!

Jen Baldwin uploaded this cute pair of siblings—William W. and his sister Bessie Brown. It was taken in Colfax County, Neb., circa 1880. Don't you just love her pantalettes and his long curls.

Shirley Jenks Jacobs uploaded this photo of her great-grandmother. I love the hat. In the 1880s, hats had tall crowns and lots of trim on the front. You can't see it, but women in this period also wore large bustles.

Suzanne Whetzel submitted this family portrait of her maternal great-grandparents Mary Ethel (Wade) and Henry Clark Yost with their son (Suzanne's grandfather) James Meryl Yost. James was born in 1908 and this toddler helps date the photo to about 1910.

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I love going to genealogy conferences. The people, the photos and the stories all add up to a fantastic experience. For the last four years I've trekked out to California for the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree. It's a regional conference with a national feel—a big program with nationally known speakers.

Every year, folks stop by to show me their photos. Some people come back each year and as you might expect, friendships develop.

Here's a picture of Mildred "Millie" Vander Hoeven and me at Jamboree in 2010.

Millie stops by to chat and share stories of her childhood. She's sent me pictures of her childhood and her parents.

Family photo collections are an amazing array of people portraits and other types of pictures. These next two images of Millie's show men threshing wheat. I need to chat with her to get a bit more information.

Can anyone—perhaps someone familiar with farming—comment on what the crews are doing in these photos? Click Comments below to share your thoughts.

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